Automatic action for player pianos



March 24, 1931. E. s. VOTEY AUTOMATIC ACTION FOR PLAYER PIANOS FiledDec. 12, 1928 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR ATTORNEY March 24, 1931. E. s.VOTEY AUTOMATIC ACTION FOR PLAYER PIANOS Filed Dec. 12, 192 6Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY March 24, 1931.

E. S. VOTEY AUTOMATIC ACTION FOR PLAYER PIANOS" Filed Dec.

1928 s Sheets-Sheet 3 M A m Kxx ATTORNEY March 24, 1931. E. s., VOTEYAUTOMATIC ACTION FOR PLAYER PIANOS INVENTOR m G A O fi wq v w m o 7 IATTORNEY March 24, 1931. E. s. VOTEY 1,797,741

AUTOMATIC ACTION FOR PLAYER PIANQS Filed Dec. 12. 192 6 Sheets-Sheet 5F'E' l].

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i 1 I I z o v o o 7 1 ATTORNEY March 1931- E. s. VOTEY 1,797,741

AUTOMATIC ACTION FOR PLAYER PIANOS Filed Dec. 12. 19:2 6 Sheets-Sheet 6flak Imam"? i i 9 W H m,

ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 24, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE EDWIN SCOTTVOTEY, OF SUMMIT, NEE! JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE AEOLIAN COMPANY, ACORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT AUTOMATIC ACTION FOR PLAYER PIANOSApplication filed December 12, 1928.

My present invention relates to improvements in automatic actions forplayer p anos. By my invention I achieve the followlng:

First, small size and compactness wherebyconnection with the drawingsshowing two preferred embodiments of my invention.

Figs. 1 to 9 show the first embodiment. In these Fig. 1 is a fore andaft vertical sectional and elevational view through the front half of agrand automatic piano embodying the automatic action of my presentinvention;

Fig. 2 serves to indicate how much smaller is the space occupied by myautomatic action than the regular action in use today; Fig. 3

is a fragmentary underneath plan view of my automatic action; Fig. 4 isa fragmentary rear elevation of the same; Fig. 5 is an end elevationlooking at the left end of one of the levers in Fig. 3; Fig. 6 is anunderneath plan view to show the adaptability of the action foradjustment to suit any scale of piano hammer action; Fig. 7 is afragmentary side elevation of the free end of one of the levers shownconnected to a vertical wire element, the latter being an intermediatepart between the striker pnuematic and the hammer action unit commonlyused in the art; Fig. 8 is a fragmentary fore and aft vertical sectionthrough an upright player piano showing the foregoing first form of myaction applied thereto; Fig. 9 is a transverse vertical section on thelines 9-9 in Fig. 2 through one of my striker pneumatics.

The remaining figures show a second embodiment of my automatic action.In these Fig. 10 is a fragmentary fore and aft vertical sectional andelevational view through a grand player piano containing this secondembodiment of my automatic action; Fig. 11 is a side elevation of one ofthe bell crank levers detached; Fig. 12 is a perspective view of one ofthe riders detached; Fig. 13 is a Serial No. 325,455.

fragmentary fore and aft vertical section through an upright pianocontaining this second embodiment of my automatic action; Fig. 14 is afragmentary rear elevation of said automatic action; and Figs. 15 and 16respectively show other forms of upright piano actions with my automaticaction applied thereto. The same numerals refer to the same or similarparts throughout.

I will now describe my invention with particular reference to thedevices of the drawings whose details, however, are to be regarded asillustrative and not as limiting the invention except as required by theclaims in view of the prior art. as

I do not use in my automatic action the universally used type of strikerpneumatic with its movable board hinged to its fixed board. In otherwords, the prior art pneumatic is like that shown at 1 in Fig. 2.Instead I use a pneumatic S of a different ty e wherein the movableboard 2 is substantial y parallel to the fixed board 3 instead ofinclined as in the hinged pneumatic. The parallel boards in my pneumaticS are connected by pneumatic fabric 4 equally on all four sides of thepneumatic instead of only on three sides as in the hinged pneumatic,whereby said fabric sides of my pneumatic are ideally subject to theaction of atmospheric pressure for the operation of the pneumatic.Furthermore, in the hinged pneumatic the fabric at the sides, the nearersaid sides approach the hinge, folds in so completely during collapsethat the atmospheric 85 pressure cannot act effectively upon. it. This Ifind has two consequences. First, the area of the movable board of thehinged pneumatic must be kept relatively large to compensate for thisineffectiveness of the fabric sides of the pneumatic; and secondly, thehinged pneumatic loses too much power as it collapses. As distinguishedfrom this, my striker pneumatic, because it is adapted to be made withrelatively deep fabric sides 4 fully effective on all sides of thepneumatic, does not lose so rapidly in power and speed as it collapsesthrough its working stroke; and moreover, the area of said fabric sidesis so extensively and effectively exposed to 1m the atmospheric pressurethat the area of the movable board can be considerably reducedrelatively to that of the hinged pneumatic, which means that for equalwidths of movable board, its length in my pneumatic can be greatlyshortened, thereby achieving marked improvement in compactness not onlyfor the striker pneumatics but for the entire automatic action, and withcapability for improved power and speed.

In the hinged striker pneumatic, the movable board 5 of the pneumatic isitself the lever for delivering the power of the pneumatic to the hammeraction, said movable board being a lever of the third order wherein thefulcrum is at the hinged end of the movable board and wherein theresistance is at the opposite end, and wherein the power is applied bythe pneumatic to the portion of the board intermediate said ends.

In my new striker pneumatic, the movable board is not a lever at all.Instead, I provide a separate lever 6 operatively connected. tosubstantially the center of the area of the movable board. In Figs. 1 to8, this is a lever of the third order, and in Figs. to 16 is a bellcrank lever of a different order, which latter, if anything, I preferbecause it is adapted to deliver the full power of the striker pneumaticwithout loss of speed and indeed with increase of speed if desired.

The main difference between the illustrated first and second embodimentsof my invention is that in the first Figs. 1 to 9the two parallel tiersor stacks of striker pneumatics are arranged vertically over each otherin back of the valve chest 7 containing the valves of said pneumatics;whereas in the second embodiment, Figs. 10 to 16, the stacks arearranged horizontally in front of each other with the penumaticscollapsing in a horizontal direction instead of vertically, the stacksbeing located on top of thevalve chest 7. The latter embodimentalsoreadily permits the use of hell crank levers 29 to attack the hammeractions with the inherent advantages of said levers as alreadyindicated.

Having made the foregoing general eX- planation, I will now proceed tothe details. Fig. 1 indicates a grand player piano with key-bed 9, pianokey 10, hammer action 11 including wippen 12 and metal extension 12 fromeach wippen, string plate 13, piano string 14., tracker bar 15,music-roll 16, and take-up spool 17.

My striker pneumatics are shown at S, one of the upper pneumatics inFigs. 1 and 8 being shown. in side elevation and one of the lowerpneumatics in fore and aft vertical section. As usual, there is, ofcourse, a striker pneumatic for each hammer action, said pneumaticsbeing horizontally arranged in two parallel rows or stacks, one over theother as shown. The pneumatic collapse verticall in the first type of myaction. There the fired boards 3 are uppermost and are secured to theunderside of supporting bars 18, which latter in turn are secured to thevalve chest" 7. Said bars contain the regular wind ways for operativelyconnecting the striker pneumatics to their respective valves in thevalve chest 7 of which with this type of pneumatic there need be onlyone valve for each pneumatic. This valve chest extends horizontallyacross thepiano over the keys and in front of the hammer actions. Infore and aft cross section said valve chest is an elongated rectanglewith its long sides vertically disposed. The details of the valveswithin this valve chest need not be gone into, nor the details of thepneumatic passages and connections which they control between thetracker bar ducts, the outside atmosphere, the exhaustinducing means,and the striker pneumatics, etc., because all of these are or may be ofwell understood or any suitable preferred construction in the playerpiano art.

Although there are two horizontal rows of striker pneumatics, there isonly a single horizontal row of levers 6, one for each pneumatic locatedunder them. All of said levers 6 extend in fore and aft parallel lineswith their front ends fulcrumed to the underside of the valve chest 7and with their rear free. ends extending underneath the wippenextensions 12 of the respective hammer actions. My striker pneumatics Sare operatively connected to the respective levers 6 by suitableconnections between substantially the centers of the areas of themovable boards of the pneumatics, with suitable points on the leversintermediate their ends. One good form for each of these connectionsconsists (Figs. 1, 2 and 4) of a freshly shellacked rod 19 screwedthrough the center of the given movable board, said rod being providedwith a nut 20 on the face of the board inside the pneumatic. Fig. 4(compare Fig. 2) shows a right angled bayonet-like bend 21 forming thefree end of each rod, this being a handy means for making pivotalconnection between the rod and the lever by the insertion of saidbayonetlike end through a horizontal hole in the lever.

The rear elevation (Fig. 4) shows how the striker pneumatics'in onestack break joints with those in the other so that the longer rods 19from the upper stack pneumatics can pass down between the lower stackpneumatics. Intermediately said longer rods pass through holes 22 (Figs.3 and 4) in the lower bar 18.

The levers 6 may be conveniently formed out of sheet metal, each leverhaving a central vertically disposed web for its body portion 1.;located between right angled twists b forming the horizontally disposedend portions 0 and (Z. The end portion 0 has upturned sides 7 forming ashallow trough with notches in the tops of the sides f to receive downinto them the pintle wire 23 suitably supported in lugs 24 on the valvechest. A

leaf spring 25 in each trough riveted to the bottom thereof at 26 hasits free end extending over said pintle wire and thence beyond the endof the trough for handy manipulation to pivotally attach the lever toand detach it from the pintle Wire. The free end of each lever may beprovided with a noisedeadening felt or leather pad 27, as shown in Fig.2, or may be provided merely with a vertical hole as in Fig. 7 toloosely receive the screw-threaded end of a vertical rod 28 providedabove and below with leather nuts, the rod being operatively related inany well known manner with the hammer action unit to actuate same fromthe upward movement of the lever due to the pneumatic collapse of theconnected striker pneumatic.

The underneath plan view in Fig. 6 of the metal levers 6 shows theirrelation to the wippens 12 of the hammer actions and especially showshow during installation the vertical body portions a may bebentlaterally to the right or left if necessary to locate the free endsof the levers operatively under the related wippens or the equivalentoperative parts of the hammer actions. In other words, my automaticaction is readily conformable to any scale of piano hammer action.

Preferably, as shown, the levers 6 bow downwardly at the center and,therefore, upwardly at their ends, especially at their free ends, tomore advantageously attack the hammer actions; and for the same reason.I

i prefer to set the striker pneumatics in this first embodiment of myaction so that their boards incline somewhat upwardly and rearwardly asshown in Figs. 1, etc.

Fig. 8 shows the application of this same first embodiment to aminiature upright piano. In view of the foregoing, the figure isself-explanatory, the same numerals being used to indicate like orsimilar parts as in the earlier figures. This figure shows how myaction, due to its compactness, readily adapts itself for use even withthis miniature upright.

Fig. 2 shows in dotted lines the smallest hinged striker pneumatic thatwill do the work at all comparable with my parallel board strikerpneumatic, the latter being shown drawn to scale in full lines. Thisfigure shows better than any description the saving of space effected bymy invention.

Describing now the second type of my action shown in Fig. 10, et seq.,here the valve chest 7 (Fig. 10) lies horizontally on. its long side andsupports on its top the two stacks of my parallel board pneumatics S-S,one stack in front of the other, with the pneumatics workinghorizontally, said pneumatics being supported by their fixed boards onthe bars 18, which latter in turn are secured to the valve chest 7. Windways (not shown) in these bars 18 operatively connect the pneumaticswith the valves, etc., in the valve chest.

Bell crank levers 29, one for each striker pneumatic S, operativelyconnect said pneumatics with the respective hammer action units 11.These levers are suitably fulcrummed at m to the rear lower corner ofthe valve chest with vertical arms n extending up to the strikerpneumatics S to whose movable boards, preferably at their centers, areattached the operative connections 19 which are or may be in allrespects like the same connections 19 heretofore described, with saidrods 19 preferably projecting rigidly from the movable boards and withthe free ends of said rods making pivotal connection with the respectivebell crank levers. This kind of operative connection 19 supports itspneumatic against sagging and, therefore, supports it in position forits proper operation. The other arms of the bell cranks extendhorizontally under the extensions 12 from the wippens 12 or under thewippens 12 direct (Fig. 16), or under lugs 30 (Fig. 15) on the stickersof the hammer action in Fig. 15. These bell cranks being made of metal,their horizontal arms are readily bendable laterally to make themconform to the scale of the hammer actions.

Fig. 11 shows one of the bell crank levers detached. The row of holes pin the horizontal arms serve to attach a rider 31 shown in perspectivedetached in Fig. 12. The rider consists of an inverted U-shaped pieceadapted to straddle and rest on the horizontal arm of the given leverand to be secured in the different positions of adjustment indicated bythe holes p (Fig. 11) and to be secured in the selected position bestsuited for operating the given piano action by means of a pin passedthrough the aligned holes in the lugs of the rider and through theselected hole 10 in the lever arm. A pad 31 of noise-deadening materialis secured to the top of the rider. If the horizontal arms of the leverare unnecessarily long in the given installation, they can besnippedoff.

The fragmentary rear elevation of the pneumatic stacks in Fig. 14indicates how the pneumatics break joints and how the rod connections 19from the remote stack pneumatics located behind the bar 18 pass throughholes 22 in said bar, this being the bar which supports the pneumaticsof the near stack.

Figs. 13, 15 and 16 show this second horizontal embodiment of myautomatic action applied to various sizes and kinds of upright pianos.The parts are essentially the same as heretofore and need no furtherdescription.

The differences in these piano actions call for modifications in theelbow levers whose horizontal arms in Fig. 15 are relatively short andin'Fig. 16 relatively long. The riders 31 in Fig. 16 are extra high.These and the other figures serve to illustrate the unusual capacity foradaptation of the automatic acand same parts might be used Withoutothers,

all coming within the scope and spirit of the claims which follow Theexpression fabric in the, specification and, claims is used in ageneralized sense for any flexible air-tight material used for coveringpneumatics in this art.

The expression substantially parallel fixed and movable boards used inthe specification and claims; for defining the pneumatits is used withthe intended emphasis not so much of the parallelism of the boards asupon the fact that as: the pneumatic collapses the movable board movestowards the fixed board in a more or less parallel relationship asdistinguished from the manner of movement of boards that are hinged.together, the

- virtue of said parallel mode of operation be ing that. it provideseffectively active fabric everywhere around the pneumatic as herein setforth.

lVhat I claim is:

1. In player mechanism for actuating piano hammer-actions thecombination of striker pneumatics each having substantially parallelfixed and movable boards which are fabric-connected on all sides;fulcrumed levers having free ends for operating the hammer actions ofthe piano mechanism; and 0p erative connections between said levers andsubstantially the centers of the faces of the movable boards of saidstrikerpneumatics; riders for engaging the hammer-actions, one on thefree end of each lever, and means for securing said riders in diflerentpositions therealong to engage said hammer actions. a

2. In player mechanism for actuating piano hammer-actions thecombination of striker pneumatics each having substantially parallelvertically disposed fixed and movable boards which are fabridoonnectedon all sides, said pneumatics being in two stacks, one stack in front ofthe other on top of a horizontally disposed valve box containing valvemechanism for the operation of said pneumatics; said valve box;fulcrumed bell crank levers with vertical and horizontal arms, thelatter extending into operative relation with the hammer actions of thepiano 7 mechanism; and connections between the vertical arms of saidlevers and substantially the centers of the faces of the movable boardsof the striker pneumatics.

3. In player mechanism for actuating piano hammer-actions thecombination of striker pneumatics each having substantially parallelvertically disposed fixed and movable boards which are fabric-connectedon all 1,: evgzai sides, said neumatics .being in two stacks, onestackin front of the other; fulcrumed bell crank lever with vertical andhorizontal arms, the latter extending into operative relation with thehammer actions of the piano York and State of New York this 11th day of;

December, A. D. 1928. Y

, EDWIN SCOTT VQTE'Yr

